England Under-21s held by Netherlands
Stuart Pearce's young Lions drew a blank
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Tuesday, 11, Aug 2009 10:36
England Under-21s set the tone for the week's unpopular international friendlies with a snore draw against their Dutch counterparts in Groningen.
It was the first outing for Stuart Pearce's young Lions since they suffered final heartache in the European Championships in June.
Since then several stars have become too old and as a result Pearce fielded a raft of debutants, including Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere who made a 30-minute cameo.
New Aston Villa signing Fabian Delph was replaced by Wilshere after impressing in the first half, while Micah Richards led the side.
For the Dutch, Newcastle's Tim Krul, who excelled in the Geordie's opening Championship rubber last weekend, kept goal. Another young Gunner Nacer Barazite was also in attendance.
And it was the Dutchman who went closest in an abject first half. The forward shuffled inside a challenge and unleashed a powerful drive that flew just over Scott Loach's crossbar.
England responded through Richards who, after a clever one-two with West Ham's Junior Stanislas, had Krul sprawling across the goal to save at the second time of asking.
Chances were equally sparse in the second period although the performance of Frank Fielding would have pleased Pearce.
As it was the scorers remained untroubled.
However, fixtures such as this are predominantly about nurturing the development of young players for the next level. That 'next level' will be on show when Fabio Capello's senior outfit play Holland in Amsterdam.